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Possible unwanted dog pregnancy...

My 8.5 yo female is on day 7 of her heat cycle. I locked her up in the kennel in the basement
before I left to go work yesterday evening and apparently my 5yo let her back out right before dark....
I got home about 3 hours after she would have been let out of the kennel and noticed her down the street a few blocks chasing another lab...She had to jump the fence because the gate was locked when I came back. So I called her back and she came back and then she took off again in the same direction. I followed her but could not see the other dog again. Upon inspection back at the house the top of her back had some damp areas where I assume were the other dogs slobber from either rough play or u know what...she has had 2 litters the last one was 2 summers ago. What are my options right away? Can she be given a morning after pill/shot or can she be spayed will in heat safely? I plan on calling the vet right away this morning...both times she had litters
it was on about day 16 of her cycle when she got pregnant.

The "morning after" shot for dogs was proven to be VERY unsafe, and therefore, I know of no vets who will give it. You can abort the litter at 28 days. So keep track of your time on the calendar. Some vets will not abort the litter either, so you should call around. There are some risks involved as well. You may need to find a reproduction vet to have this option taken care of. The third option would be just to let her have the litter and find them home. This is the safest route, however ...... Finding homes for potential mixed breed puppies can be a challenge.

Talked to my vet and he is going to spay her in 3 weeks after her swelling goes down. He doubts that she was even bred, but since I am not wanting to have any more litters it will be good to have her spayed. Thanks for the help.

I took in a foster once who was locked up in a housing authority w/ her "brother" (I'm assuming littermate). They were taken to our HS, and the owners came and got the male but didn't want her back. She came here into foster since no one adopted her. My vet was scheduled to spay her, then got a bad case of the flu, so it put off the spay a bit. About that time I started seeing the "change"... I phoned the vet who is a friend, and she agreed to go ahead w/ the spay (I'm thinking the bitch was 5 wks along by then). All went well w/ the exception of a very upset technician who threatened to quit. I think they turned it into an eductional opportunity about rescues, inbreeding and the health risks/consequences. I would spay if it were my 8 yo possibly involved. Sounds like your vet has a good plan. Best of luck. Anne

She had a healthy litter of 6 two summers ago and I actually tried a repeat breeding last spring with her (to keep one for myself), but the male showed no interest so I decided no more attempts. I should have had her spayed after last spring,...both times she has had pups she didn't let the male work until around day 15, so I am guessing that there was no actual tie, but I don't want to take the chance of her trying to have pups at her age, even though she acts like she is a young dog.

I had a female get out and go gallivanting around the neighborhood early in her heat cycle. I had her first progesterone test done the same day as her adventure and she was very low. Vet said at the time it wasn't unheard of for semen to live 8+ days but that we'd probably be OK. 9 days and several progesterone tests later, she was bred to the chosen stud with the proviso that I'd DNA test the pups if there was any question of parentage. Well, no DNA test was needed: all 12 were definitely NOT Chesapeakes since they were black. We later found out the male we intentionally bred her to was sterile and the male she'd found (a coonhound) apparently, was very fertile.

I had a female get out and go gallivanting around the neighborhood early in her heat cycle. I had her first progesterone test done the same day as her adventure and she was very low. Vet said at the time it wasn't unheard of for semen to live 8+ days but that we'd probably be OK. 9 days and several progesterone tests later, she was bred to the chosen stud with the proviso that I'd DNA test the pups if there was any question of parentage. Well, no DNA test was needed: all 12 were definitely NOT Chesapeakes since they were black. We later found out the male we intentionally bred her to was sterile and the male she'd found (a coonhound) apparently, was very fertile.